I had similar thoughts traveling about Turkey last year. In some places, anywhere you turn, there's some as yet unexcavated Roman ruin. I think its government is more competent and certainly less criminalized than Mexico's, but under state management, it will be decades and a trebling of GDP before many of these sites get excavated.
If there was to be a free market in archaeology, I could see archaeology DAOs being created amongst enthusiasts to finance prospective digs. NFTs can be minted for every artifact discovered and token holders above a certain level rewarded with them.
The value of artifacts for science often comes from the archaeological context they are found in--i.e. meticulous excavation and recording. Pulling artifacts out of this context without proper recording eliminates this key knowledge.
It belongs in a Museum!
I had similar thoughts traveling about Turkey last year. In some places, anywhere you turn, there's some as yet unexcavated Roman ruin. I think its government is more competent and certainly less criminalized than Mexico's, but under state management, it will be decades and a trebling of GDP before many of these sites get excavated.
If there was to be a free market in archaeology, I could see archaeology DAOs being created amongst enthusiasts to finance prospective digs. NFTs can be minted for every artifact discovered and token holders above a certain level rewarded with them.
The value of artifacts for science often comes from the archaeological context they are found in--i.e. meticulous excavation and recording. Pulling artifacts out of this context without proper recording eliminates this key knowledge.
I'm not convinced on this one. It's not Foreign Direct Investment, it's a sale. It's not equivalent to building a factory that drives future growth.
And Fred Smith UFM talk: Protecting Antiquities through Markets https://newmedia.ufm.edu/video/protecting-antiquities-through-markets/
Richard Stroup and Matthew Brown wrote Selling Artifacts https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2000/12/stroupbrown.pdf